Football leagues to honour tragic teenager Melissa

Amateur football teams across Lancashire will pay respect to tragic teenager, Melissa Smith, who died during a match last weekend.

Dave Burgess, Chief Executive of the Lancashire Football Association has asked all teams playing in this weekend’s County Cup fixtures to hold either a minutes silence or a minutes applause prior to kick-off to pay tribute to the 15-year-old from Penwortham.

He said: “We were obviously shocked to hear about what happened to Melissa and have asked all teams over the weekend to honour her in the way they see fit.

“We have also sent out an email to all of the leagues across Lancashire to pay respect to Melissa by doing the same this weekend.

He added: “It’s clear that the impact of what happened is going to felt across the entire county.

“Melissa was playing in a match just three miles away from Leyland but teams further away such as Barrow 75 miles away will feel the impact of what happened.”

Melissa, desribed as a “lively and energetic” youngster by the chairman of her team, was playing football for Cadley FC at Greenside, Euxton, near Chorley, against Euxton Girls in the under 16’s premier league when she collapsed at around 11.30am on Sunday.

An ambulance was called to the field and CPR and a defibrillator was administered at the scene but Melissa was later pronounced dead at the Royal Preston Hospital.

Following the tragedy, Cadley FC and Euxton FC have postponed all of their matches this weekend.

Lancashire Police said Melissa’s death is not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem examination will be carried out to established the exact cause of death